Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (SCBB) Discussion Thread

[Angry_Gumball]

CA's finally been seeing the much needed rain this past week, though there's been a lot of it...enough to cause the San Lorenzo River to make an unusual turn and flood the beach up to the retaining wall, even made the news: http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/crews-try-prevent-damage-santa-cruz-park/nLThZ/

 

It looks like they're attempting to build up a sand berm to prevent any further flooding from the river as much as it's eroding quite fast. It also looks like they're trying to widen up the mouth of the river so that the river can exit into the bay directly rather than taking its scenic route. When I saw the brief shot on the news, it looks like the river spanned across, ending where the Sky Gliders station and Rock 'n Roll ride sit. It also apparently took out a set of stairs leading to the beach.

 

Taken from KTVU site

 

SCBB's Facebook

 

Hopefully this can get under control before the next series of storms slam the Bay Area and Santa Cruz.

[CoasterBeagle]

I saw that on the news and was like omg.

[robman]

The river was starting to get like that when I was there a few weeks ago. I steps that are closest to the Cliff Hanger ride were gone and the river water was right below it. I guess they didn't think it would overflow that bad.

Here is sort of a wide shot of the sand pushes away that the Boardwalk posted on their facebook page.

Here is a more close up shot that they posted.

[XYZ]

That San Lorenzo River is ALWAYS a problem. They really need to pipe it at the end like what they did with the river in Capitola. The good news is the park looks nice with the water up close to it. It's like Paradise Pier now.

[gisco]

There was a lot of rain last night and this morning. It will be interesting to see how everything fared!

[rolercstrluvr]

I might fill up my car and go check out all this news in person.

[chadster]

I might fill up my car and go check out all this news in person.

 

At California prices you'll need a loan

[XYZ]

I live 25 miles from the Boardwalk and the weather now is just windy and partly cloudy, so they should be able to fix this as I don't see rain coming soon at the moment.

[rolercstrluvr]

^ I'm just about the same distance as you are, really windy where I am though. The rain cleared out quickly from last night.

[XYZ]

I don't know if you guys know, but Hurricane is listed on Ital and they're only asking for $500,000!

 

http://www.italintl.com/detail_page.php?record_id=1605

[gisco]

^Availability at the end of the season. Interesting.

[Angry_Gumball]

So these Hurricane rumors are starting to unfold...I remember that this rumor's been going around for a while and while the ride's only listed I guess more speculation will now begin to form as to what will take it's place. Since the boardwalk seems to replace a ride with something almost of the same type (though maybe an upgraded form of it), I can assume we'll see some form of portable compact coaster up there...Wouldn't be surprised if a spinner makes its way up to that platform.

[XYZ]

It's funny that every year, a coaster in Northern California is removed.

 

2010 - Invertigo

2011 - Pandemonium (Yes, it was removed in 2012, but it was more in the 2011 season)

2012 - Hurricane

 

I think the two most likely coasters to take its place are a Maurer Spinner or a S&S El Loco. Also, I could see the Hurricane name staying as the recent additions to Santa Cruz have been re-makes of rides (Haunted Castle, Freefall, Crazy Surf).

[Tmcdllr]

Wasn't there a rumor that they were thinking of a B&M for that spot and possibly travel over the boardwalk some?

 

You know there is another coaster that was recently removed that could fit there.

[sfmman2000]

^ The chances of that happening are next to nothing (unfortunately). Getting a structure like that through the bureaucracy and likely opposition of the Coastal Commission and the people of Santa Cruz would be near impossible. Not to mention the noise a B&M makes. Even with sand-filled supports, I think the noise level would still be too high. Also, the Boardwalk has not been known to buy expensive "theme-park quality" rides.

 

I'm nearly certain that the replacement ride will be a spinning wild mouse. I should be able to gather more information about it soon. The good thing about a mouse, is that the noise and height level likely won't be issues, and the coaster shouldn't have much trouble getting approved.

 

Interestingly, the availability of Hurricane will be in September 2012, so the park definitely wants to run the ride through the Summer season. After the season is over, the old operations building is scheduled for demolition, so it sounds like they are trying to get Hurricane out of there at just about the same time.

 

For the Summer 2013-14 season, the park will very likely see multiple new flat rides in the new open area created by demolition of the old buildings.

 

On another note, the teacups are still for sale: http://www.italintl.com/detail_page.php?record_id=1026

[ScottBrown]

I would think if they are going to go for a spinner which the rumors right now all point to it will be the Maurer Söhne Xtended SC 2000 model of course they could pull an El Loco out of their hats and pleasantly surprise us all. . . I do honestly think they already have a replacement in the works however I can't imagine they would go a full season with one less coaster, removing Hurricane in Sept. gives them plenty of time to have a new coaster up and running in time for the 2013 season

[sfmman2000]

^ I think a Maurer SC 2000 is a good bet. Although, the Boardwalk would have to do some rearranging to fit it on the Hurricane deck. The depth of an SC 2000 is 75 feet (http://www.maurer-rides.com/files/amusement/pdf/PI_SC2000_Lagoon.pdf). Hurricane's depth is only 55 feet, according to Google Maps Distance Measurement Tool. If they put in an SC 2000 on the Hurricane deck, it would intrude on the current location of the kiddie rides, and not leave a whole lot of free space up there.

 

edit: If the park went for an El Loco, the ride would be about 30 feet higher than Hurriance at 130 feet hight. I doubt a ride that tall would ever be approved. Depth-wise, an El Loco is only 45 feet (http://www.engineeringexcitement.com/rides/coasters/el-loco#tabs-2) deep (super narrow!), so it would easily fit on the deck.

[Angry_Gumball]

So, the El Loco would be about 5 feet taller than the Double Shot tower...could still happen, though I can only imagine all the hoops and hurdles the park would have to go through...Wasn't the Double Shot tower a bit of a headache and then some to get approved? Or perhaps the park could make an extra effort to get something custom built. Whether if that's in their budget, that's another story.

[ScottBrown]

Yes the city made it absolute hell to build Double Shot it was originally planned to be much taller and even with the current shorter tower it was still a huge issue

[sfmman2000]

Any new ride that will get in the way of the Santa Cruz skyline as seen from the end of the wharf will likely never be approved again. Doubleshot took 10 years to become approved. When the Boardwalk presented the plan in the mid-90s, I believe the plan was to build a 180 foot Spaceshot. I can only imagine the number of birds that would have collided with the tower, had it been built

 

If the park, with some of it's soon-to-be free space, built an El Loco on Boardwalk (ground) level, the coaster would reach a height of about 100 feet. I think that is more reasonable than 130 feet, especially since they currently have Hurricane which sits at exactly the same height. Maybe then, they could put some other kind of flat ride on the Hurricane deck.

[rcdude]

If the park went for an El Loco, the ride would be about 30 feet higher than Hurriance at 130 feet hight. I doubt a ride that tall would ever be approved. Depth-wise, an El Loco is only 45 feet (http://www.engineeringexcitement.com/rides/coasters/el-loco#tabs-2) deep (super narrow!), so it would easily fit on the deck.

 

The park could always go with the smallest model on that page. It is only 60 feet tall, which I believe is the height of Hurricane.

 

My guess is that the park may remove/relocate the kiddie rides next to Hurricane to clear up more space. If they are going for a family friendly coaster, it will probably be a spinner of some sort or a wild mouse. If they are going for more of a thrill ride, however, I'd wager that it will be either an El Loco or a Eurofighter.

[darklingscribe]

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned before, but I think the perfect ride for the spot is a Maurer Söhne launched X-car. I'm thinking something similar to Formule X at Drievliet in the Netherlands. Its a very fun ride that doesn't go very high and has a small footprint.

 

Going by the space available it is a little big, Hurricane is 170ft x 50ft and Formule X is 164ft x164ft. I wonder if they could extend the supports out over the boardwalk or have a custom one built that dives down over by the ticket booth or over boardwalk (though It might be difficult with the chairlift in the way).

 

Looking at the area in google maps it seems that the rooftop space taken by Hurricane is about 60% of the total area. which makes the space very roughly 90ft by 170ft. So a direct clone probably wouldn't work.

[sfmman2000]

^ Something like that would be a great ride for the Boardwalk. A tiny launched coaster is a good way to have a fast, thrilling ride in a small footprint.

[chickenbowl]

I'd love to see a small Gerstlauer spinner like SFDK's Big Spin there. It's 177'x78', I'm not sure if that can work, but I like Gerstlauer spinners a lot!

[Tmcdllr]

 

This would be a perfect ride for them and a way to squeeze in an inversion or maybe two. A customized version would fit nicely, or extend over a larger area.